


I'm the daddy here!

by alliwantforchristmasisfanfictions



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Adult Number Five | The Boy, F/F, F/M, Family Fluff, M/M, POV Number Five | The Boy, Past Child Abuse, Running Away, Starting Over, parenting is hard
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:47:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26186650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alliwantforchristmasisfanfictions/pseuds/alliwantforchristmasisfanfictions
Summary: 28 years old Number Five escapes the apocalypse to kidnap his teenage siblings and provide them with a better life.Or: How Five becomes a dad.(There's a recent story with the same title, same summary, but it' two different works, don't get confused.)
Comments: 39
Kudos: 225





	1. Runaway

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by multiple fan arts. Not original but I loved the idea. Background music: 'We are the Kids' by 'WALK THE MOON'

Number Five Hargreeves ran away from his house when he was thirteen years old. He managed to jump to the future but then got stuck in a post-apocalyptic world where he somehow learned how to survive.

He was there for fifteen years.

In 2039, something clicked inside of Five's brain. Out of nowhere, he found the answer. The answer that would bring his happiness; his biggest wish; everything he wanted; he found the equation to get back to his family. "Oh my god- I'm finally going home."

He said goodbye to Delores, clung his wrists together, and the man time-traveled to the past. Although, as we all know, nothing in Number Five’s life could ever be simple, so of course he messed it up. Instead of landing in early 2019 to stop the apocalypse and save the world as he planned to, Five ended up traveling seventeen years earlier.

“Oh fuck.” Five exclaimed after he landed face down in the middle of the street. He was dizzy, nauseous, his head hurt and his senses were failing him. He stumbled to get up on his feet and ignored the few people glaring at him, mainly because he was covered in dirt, dressed like a homeless man and he hadn’t showered in over a decade.

When he finally got on his feet, the man looked around and realized how many people were around. Living, walking, running, talking playing. Everyone was alive, safe, and apocalypse-free. “I did it. I fucking did it!”

Agitated and amazed, Five realized that he was staring on the same spot he disappeared all those years ago. He turned around and spotted the dear old academy, and with a giant grin he ran towards it. Halfway there, Five started screaming in happiness like a little child "I’M BACK! I DID IT, IM HOME!"

All of a sudden, something fishy caught Five's eye and he stopped running.

He approached the big tree he was passing by, and analyzed the 'missing person' poster glued on it. On the poster, there was a big picture of his grumpy thirteen-years old self in his uniform, and on top he read “ _Missing Person: Number Five Hargreeves. Not seen in 30 days_."

The twenty-eight-year-old frowned, confused about the date and about how new the poster look "This isn’t right”

Before he could keep talking to himself like he would normally do, a sweet old woman stopped behind him and made him jump when she spoke “That poor boy has been missing for a month, it’s all over the news! I’ve seen a couple of kids hand-make those and put them all around the neighborhood. His family and friends must be worried sick!”

Five took a moment to swallow, not really thinking straight at the moment “Wait… Ma’am, could you tell me what day is it?”

“December 2nd”

Five cleared his throat and rephrased “of what year?”

The woman seemed confused confusion, but politely answered “2002, young man.”

Five’s jaw hit the floor with bewilderment. He messed up again. Of course, this was a way less messy messed up, but he was still pretty screwed. Right now, his six siblings were just pre-pubescent, dramatic, heartbroken kids looking for the thirteen years old version of him who abandoned them. Damn. What even was his plan? To show up innocent, looking like trash, and scare them until his father calls him a liar and kicks him out? No way. He was screwed.

“Young man, do you need something? Perhaps you’re hungry? Or you need some clothes?” the woman asked with so much sweetness it made Five want to cry.

“Yes, please.”

***

The old lady had let Five stay in her son's old bedroom for the night. She treated him with kindness, got him some clothing that belonged to her son, and even cleaned some of his recent wounds. Five hadn't felt so well-treated in years, it made her think about his mother.

After a bubble bath, a hot bowl of soup, and a nice nap, Five thought of a plan.

During the night, Five had written six letters to his siblings saying “ _Guys, it’s me! Five! I’m okay and I need to see you. Please meet me at Griddy’s tonight at 11 pm sharp, be discrete. I’ve missed you so much. –5_ ” and later teleported to each of their bedrooms for them to find.

The six young siblings debated on whether or not to trust these random messages. They figured they had nothing to lose and ended up sneaking out, they would do anything to see their brother even if it sounded like a risky trap. (The decision seemed idiotic but Five was grateful for their dumbness)

By 10:55 pm, Five was at the empty store getting himself a coffee and sitting on the biggest booth with a dozen doughnuts for his brothers and sisters.

By 10:00 pm, Five's heart was raising with stress as he stared at the clock, imagining all the scenarios in which this late-night date could go wrong.

By 11:05 pm, the door of the café opened, and Five heard six footsteps and a bunch of excited voices overlapping “We’re late!” “Don’t look at me, we’re late because of him!” “Where is he?” “Last time I ate a doughnut, I puked all night long” “I don’t see him” “Five, are you here?”

The man looked at the bunch as if he expected them to recognize him even if he didn’t look at all like the brother they all knew. He stood up from his place and waved to get their attention “Hi guys”

The kid’s eyes were all wide open, there was an awkward silence until Diego bitterly hissed “What do you want weirdo?”

“Would it kill you to be a little nice?” Allison shot back.

Before Diego could defend himself with an angrier response, Vanya’s quiet voice took over and shut them all up when she said “Five?”

It was easy for Vanya to recognize her brother, maybe it was because of his big piercing green eyes, that robotic straight posture, the two beauty marks on his left cheek, or how long his eyelashes were. That just had to be Five.

The kids stood in silence, looking up and down at the man, Five nodded slowly and waved at them “It’s me”

Luther shook his head, taking a step forward ready to protect his family “That’s impossible”

Five put his hands up to show he was unarmed “I know it sounds crazy, but I time-traveled to the future and got stuck there for years. I tried everything to come back to you guys, I swear. That’s why I look a little….”

“Old.” Ben finished and made Five snort.

Diego pointed a finger at him and hissed “Prove it!”

Five didn’t think twice before teleporting closer to them, appearing in a flash blue light with his hands opened as if waiting for a hug “Ta-da”

Vanya was the first to lose it and let her tears down, she wrapped her hands around Five and he hugged her tightly. Soon, all his little siblings were pouring their eyes out and hugging him strongly.

“We thought you were gone” Ben spitted through sobs.

“W-We were w-worried about you," Diego said stuttering

"Glad you're back babby bro" Klaus followed

“We missed you so much,” said Allison with her makeup running

“Never leave again” Vanya whispered just loud enough for Five to hear.

 _I won’t. Never again_. Five thought. “Ok, I know I’m breaking the moment, but I need you all to sit down. We really need to talk.”

The kids did as they were told and made themselves comfortable on the booth. Again, their six voices overlapped when they all started asking questions.

“Where were you?”  
“Why did you go?”  
“Why did you wait so long?”  
“So time travel really does work?”  
“Why didn’t you take us with you?”

At that last question, Five’s heart sank and tears formed in the back of his eyes “Listen, guys, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for leaving, it was selfish and bold. It'll always be my biggest regret. I’ve had fifteen years to reflect on it and now I’m here to make it up to you.”

Allison, still too concerned about the age, asked with a high-pitched voice “FIFTEEN YEARS? So, you’re like 28?”

Five nodded with a silly grin “Yes, I’m the oldest now little suckers!”

Everyone else just shot him a deadpan look, thinking about how he was still just as childish and immature as last time they saw him.

Five pushed his shoulder back and continued, trying to make them forget what they just saw before they lose all respect they have towards him as an adult “I will tell you all the details some other day, it's a long story. For now, I'm just here to tell you where I’m going next.”

“You’re leaving again?” Ben asked with a huge frown. Besides him, Vanya looked down in disappointment, thinking about how the three of them had always been the iconic trio of the family. Five, Six, and Seven: the three babies of the family always having each other’s backs.

“Yep,” Five answered with a big smile “and this time, I’m talking all of you with me”

Their cute faces lightened up with grins instantly, except Luther's. He tried to sound brave when he raised his voice “You can’t just take us and leave! That’s kidnapping!”

His siblings rolled his eyes at him but Five tried to be the understanding one and kept his cool “You can stay if you want, Luther, but you have no reason to stay at the academy. Listen to me, It’s an awful place, dad's a horrible parent, and you all deserve better.”

Luther refused to understand “No! We’re staying, the world needs us. Dad needs us.”

Five breathed deeply trying to keep his voice down “No, Luther, those are all lies. I know you’re smart Luther, use your head. We’re just experiments to dad: he doesn’t care about us. You’re caring and brave, but you’re too young to be trying to save the world. You have a long life ahead of you, don’t waste it. You know that if we all went missing, he wouldn’t move a finger to find us.”

Luther’s head was spinning everywhere because deep down he knew Five was right. When his brother disappeared, his dad did the bare minimum to find him. He waited for the press to ask where Five was to announce that he had been missing for two weeks, and after that he let the police take care of it without ever letting the kids ask about him. It was painful.

Five debated in his head whether or not bring up the horrible things he read in Vanya’s book, the atrocities that their futures would bring into their lives “I come from the future, and I know what will happen to our family if you don’t get out of that house of terrors. I'm just trying to prevent it from happening.”

Klaus looked up from his second doughnut and asked “What happens to us in the future?”

Five bit his lips and thought about how he shouldn’t answer that question. He looked around the table at the six eyes full of innocence and concern. He knew he had to say something, and if this was the only way to make them trust him and get them out of the house, he was definitely shooting his shot without giving too many details.

Five raised his coffee mug directly at Luther’s face and started "Dad’s going to transform you into a gorilla and then ship you to the moon for no reason.”

Then he pointed his mug at Diego “You will be emotionally traumatized from always being the second best, and that leaves with a big hero complex that puts your life in danger. You live alone in a boiler room and you work as a concierge.”

Then at Allison “You will move alone to California where you'll overuse your powers to create a fake life full of lies. You become an actress but your fame consumes you, your marriage fails, and your jackass husband gets your daughter's custody.”

Then at Klaus “Your drug addiction will get even worst, you end up homeless and nobody will ever respect you again.”

Then at Vanya “You are left with social anxiety, depression, and a lot of trauma that prevents you from having any successful relationship in your life. You resent yourself even as an adult.”

Finally, he looked at Ben with empathy “…and you die in a mission.”

There was a long moment of silence where the siblings looked at each other, pitying themselves with and moping silently. Five just sipped on his black coffee and gave them a moment to take in the bomb that he had just dropped on them “I’m sorry, I know how hard this must be.”

Luther broke his silence with a small voice “The future sucks.”

Five bit his tongue to not say anything about the apocalypse, and instead tried to sound soft and understanding “I know, but it doesn’t have to be that way. We can completely turn this around for good, rewrite your future. All we need is to take dad out of the equation for you guys to have a more normal childhood, and overall a happier life.”

By now, all six kids were tearing up again, and Five was holding back from his urge to get up and hug them. _Where were these protective big brother reflexes coming from?_

Diego was the first to come back to manifest his say on the matter, he threw his hand in the middle of the table and said “I’m in. I don't want that shitty future, I want out of the Academy.”

Allison rolled her eyes at her brother’s attempt to sound badass, yet she still put her hand over Diego’s and agreed “I’m in too”

Ben’s hand was shaking from shock but he was definitely certain that he wasn’t staying in that house any longer “Me too.”

Vanya smiled at her favorite brother, happy as hell to see him again “Me three” 

"Wait!" Klaus made them all freeze and look at him with wide eyes "You didn't tell us where you're taking us." 

Five sighed and looked a little ashamed "I still haven't quite figured that out. yet. I'm still looking for a place to hide from Reginald, I'm working on a plan. You need to trust me." 

Luther was looking straight into Five's big eyes, the elder one seemed to be begging for Luther to come with them. The blond one was scared, he wasn't ready to leave his home and his dad, but something about Five convinced him to put his hand on top of his siblings’ hands and say “I’m in.”

Five seemed to be able to breathe again, he was relieved and hopeful about this. He was going to save his siblings. He smoothly put added his palm in and looked at each of them with a smile “Alright, let’s do this.”

happened to those kids.

***

The plan was simple. Five explained it to his siblings in only a few minutes, they didn’t have to do much:

Part 1: Five was going to snick into Reginald’s office to steal some cash. ( Just enough money for them to run away).

Part 2: Five would steal a minivan and fill the trunk with food, water bottles and some blankets.

Part 3: Five would pick them up a week later, in the middle of the night at a park near the academy, and drive away all night long.

The only thing they had to do was to keep quiet about everything and not to act suspicious, to avoid any of the adults wouldn’t find out.

And surprisingly enough… they didn’t fuck it up.

On December 9th, 2002, the six remaining members of ‘The Umbrella Academy’ sneaked out of the mansion for one last time and walked to the park with small backpacks filled with snacks, clothes, distractions for the trip, and a few stuff of sentimental value.

As they walked, their hearts were raising, their faces were sweating, and they were feeling more stressed than ever. Once in the park, it only took thirty seconds to find the old looking mini-van parked with their brother inside looking on edge “Get in! Vanya, you're in front.”

Vanya smiled and followed her brother's instructions, happy to finally have her best friend back. Diego, Klaus, and Ben got in the furthest three seats of the back, and the two others sat in the middle seats.

“Alright, we’re ready, here we go”

The kids were scared, but excited and still confident of their decision. Five couldn’t be happier about saving his dear family, and escaping that place would be the best thing that ever happened to those kids.

***

They hit the highway around 10 pm and the younger ones instantly fell asleep while Five drove smoothly for eight hours straight.

Once the sun came out, Five parked the car in front of the first coffee shop he saw and woke his little siblings up “Wake up little assholes!”

‘Toxic’ by Britney Spears playing in the background and Five raised the sound of the radio to the top volume just to piss them off. Six pairs of eyes opened and they all jumped awake “What the fuck Five.”

Klaus made it worst when he started screaming the lyrics "THIS IS MY JAM!" 

“We only have half an hour for a bathroom break, stretching, and breakfast, so move it!” Five said with sleepy eyes before turning the car off and stepping out. His siblings followed after they whined a little and rolled their eyes.

Once they had all gone to the bathroom, they bought themselves some sandwiches, bagels, muffins, and of course a large black coffee for Five.

“You look tired.” Luther pointed out at Five who looked like a zombie.

They expected Five to have a snarky come back, but he was too tired to think about that “Yeah I know.”

“I can drive if you want,” Diego said loudly and proudly. He tried to ignore his siblings’ snorts at his comments.

“No, you can’t.” Five replied without even looking up.

Ben quietly asked beside Five “How much money do we have? How long can we live off dad’s money?”

Five looked at him with a reassuring expression “Don’t worry about that, I have everything planned. We’re not going to run out of money.”

Luther put his wrap down and asked with his mouth full of food “By the way, you never told us where we're going”

“Oh yeah,” Five sighted and reached in his backpack to show them a pamphlet “We’re moving to Canada.”

“WHAT?” all six children asked loudly and dramatically, with eyes full of horror. “Why Canada?”

Five opened the pamphlet and pointed a picture “I did some research and found a very old couple selling their house up north. They want to get rid of it so they gave me a very reasonable price. It’s big enough for all of us, it has everything we need, it’s pretty, it’s a very safe place where nobody will ever recognize us. Most importantly, Reginald won’t come looking there.”

As the kids looked at the pictures of the small city in the mountains, Allison glared at him like he was crazy “You’re moving us to the woods? Are we like Tarzan now?”

“Tarzan lives in the jungle, dumbass” Five spit out but soon realized that he should be the bigger person here to convince them “ I know it’s not perfect but it’s good enough for now. You’ll be safe and hidden, and it looks fun! The house has a lot of space, a big backyard, and there’s a lake nearby. Look, there’s a mall only forty minutes away, so it’s not that bad. Oh, and there’s a big school very close to the house, you can finally go to a normal school and have a real teenage experience! Come on guys, what do you say?”

The only ones not glowering were Ben and Vanya, the introverted ones who actually loved the peace and quiet. 

Klaus, Luther and Diego looked at each other, collectively failing to find an argument against the idea. Finally going to a real school actually sounded interesting “Okay, we’re down”

Allison was still bitting her lips and looking sassy “How are we even going to get there? We don’t even have passports.”

Five got closer to her and whispered with a weird expression “Yeah, that’s why I need your help. Allison, I hate to put you in this position but I really need you to use your powers to get us through the frontier. I wouldn’t ask you if it wasn’t truly necessary, please can you do that?”

Allison smiled, seeing a door of opportunity to manipulate her sibling-like she did daily “Okay, but you own me one.”

Five sighted, realizing for the first time that he was about to become the legal guardian of six arrogant, manipulative, traumatized and sneaky little brats. He was fucked. “Yeah sure, I'll see what I can do.”

Allison put her cup of mocha down and shook Five’s hand “Cool, let’s go to Canada then”


	2. Moving in

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Hargreeves' first week in their new house + signing up for high school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1- I looked it up, and in Quebec, Canada, high school starts in 7th grade (12 to 13 years old) until grade 11 (16-17yo)  
> 2- Play along with the false papers too pls, pls pls pls.

Only a couple minutes after leaving the cafe, the Hargreeves got to the frontier, the complicated part of the trip.

While waiting in line to cross to Canada, Quebec. Five embraced himself and looked back at Allison who was conveniently right behind the driver’s seat “Allison, it’s your clue.”

The girl nodded with confidence and rolled her window down. Once they stopped in front of the police officer, he talked in a deep voice “Good morning, passports please.”

Five crossed his fingers in hope as Allison started talking “I heard a rumor you didn’t need our papers, and you let us into the country without any further questions.”

The officer’s smiled and pressed a bouton to open the gate in front of the car “Welcome to Canada”

Seven loud sights of relief were let out once all windows were closed again. It was Klaus who broke the silence and made everyone physically loose up “Man, Canadians are so polite. I love it here already!”

Five turned the music back on, ‘I Think We’re Alone Now’ by Tiffany coincidentally playing, and he focused his eyes on the road again while the kids muttered the lyrics.

His little siblings stayed surprisingly calm and well-behaved for the rest of the trip, they each picked up their books, started chatting about random stuff, or even played games such as Sudoku or Tic Tak Toe.

It would be another hour before Klaus started asking “Are we there yet?”

Five would reply with uncharacteristic patience, reminding himself that these were children half his age “Nope, we’re only halfway there.”

In the following hours, Klaus asked the same question a dozen more times.

***

They stopped only twice during the rest of the road, only to by lunch and go to the washroom. Their last stop was at 3 pm in the afternoon, when Five stopped the car in a pretty driveway.

All six smaller heads popped up with curiosity, Klaus took his belt off and asked again “Are we there yet?”

“Yes, Klaus, we are.” Five managed to answer with the insufficient energy he had left.

A couple gasps and exclamations were thrown before Diego asked with excitement “So is that our new house?”

All eyes were glued to the beautiful house in front of them, it was well illuminated, decorated, and built like a fairy-tale cabin. It had a lot of windows, it was surrender by a well-kept garden, and it was more welcoming than any home they had ever seen. Vanya whispered, “It’s so pretty!”

Somehow, Five could anticipate Luther’s next move and lock the doors before he could open one “Hey! Why can’t we get out?”

“I need to establish some rules before I let you in.” Five stretched his neck and turned around to face them with sleepy eyes “First of all: no screaming or any loud noises whatsoever. The house is made of wood and the walls are paper-thin, so please keep it down.”

The siblings nodded, considering where they grew up it wouldn’t be a problem to keep quiet.

“Second, no running or throwing inside the house, be careful. The couple who lived here left it intact even if it’s kind of old, there are no marks or holes, please leave it that way.”

The kids nodded again, not really listening because they were too anxious.

“Third, a very important one, you don’t go out without asking me first. I want to know where you all are at all times. When you do go out, you can’t go alone, you have to go in pairs or little groups, understood?/”

By know they weren’t even pretending to listen, they were just imagining what the inside of their new house could look like.

“Fourth, I don’t want to see ANY fighting. Is that clear?” His voice got more serious and commanding this time, his siblings’ attention went back to him “I don’t want to hear any bickering, any whining, and definitely no violence. If you have a problem, just come to me and I’ll help you solve it.”

The younger ones threw each other some salty looks, knowing damn well how many times they would break that rule.

“And finally, rule number Five-”

As soon as he said the number, his siblings broke into laughter like it was the best joke ever. In the back of his head, Five reflected on how childish it was, but he still chortled too at the sound of their cute giggles. “You said your own name!”

“Yes, anyways, this one is an important one: I’m the adult. I might not be as good as mom, or as Pogo, but I’ll do everything to avoid being like dad. Keep in mind that I’m responsible for you guys, I want the best for you, I want you to be safe, successful, and happy. For that I need you to listen to me, I need you to trust me, and I need you to come to me if there’s something wrong. I’m not perfect, but I’ll try my best. Okay?”

The children looked into his eyes with empathy, realizing how nervous and exhausted he already looked. He had been through a lot, and the least they could do was to behave and cut him some slack. They all nodded in understanding and gave him warm smiles “Okay”

Klaus raised his hand like he was at school and asked “Oh and could I get my own bedroom?”

“Nope” Five took out the plans of the house that he was keeping in his backpack with the contract of their new property. He passed it to them and explained “There are three rooms upstairs: the huge master bedroom, an average-size bedroom, and a miniature home office. The four boys will share the biggest room, the two girls will share the middle room, and I’m keeping the smallest one. No trading, okay?"

The teens all nodded, not having much to disagree on, and Five finally opened the car doors and passed the house keys to Vanya beside him. Immediately, six pairs of feet ran towards the house with big smiles and eyes full of excitement and hope.

Five followed them close behind, letting them run wild and explore the house with curiosity. Most of the house was empty but the old residents had thankfully left them some furniture, like an old orange armchair in front of a fireplace where Five got himself cozy while he listened closely.

Diego was the first to race upstairs to the master bedroom “This room is gigantic!”

“Look at the view!” Klaus cheered as he opened the door of the balcony

“They left us their library! Look at all those books!” Ben said as he found his favorite spot of the house.

“We have a walk-in closet!” Vanya exclaimed beside Allison, very excited about getting a chance to get closer to her only sister.

“Oh my god, Vanya, we could decorate this whole wall! We need to go buy some posters!” Allison talked with a high-pitched voice, also secretly excited about having a roommate.

“Guys, come see the basement! There’s enough place for a whole gym!” Luther said as he had already planned the whole thing.

Diego seemed to agree but Klaus cringed and complained “Ew, no! We could use it for a game room and put a big TV. Oh, we could add a pool table or football table!” 

Five was still sitting with his legs up, listening to the kids' debates about what they wanted to buy and how they wanted to decorate their lovely home. 

His mind was running a million miles per hour, thinking about all the things he needed to do to make this place a true home, thinking about how many changes needed to be made in these kids’ lives, and thinking about what his life was about to become.

At some point, Five’s brain shut down brusquely and he had no energy left to keep his eyes open, he just passed out and started snorting like an old grandpa. Vanya noticed him first and tucked him in with her own blanket “Nighty Five”

***

About three hours later, Vanya’s soft hands shook him awake until his eyes snapped open “Vanya?”

“Good morning sleepy head” she whispered with her usual tenderness.

“Morning?!” Five shouted, his heart dropped at the idea of letting the six teenagers alone for an entire night.

“No, No! Don’t worry, I was just kidding. It’s only dinner time.” she said calmly

“Oh gosh- I forgot about dinner!” Five was ready to jump from his seat, remembering that the kids hadn’t eaten since they stopped at a Macdonald's six hours ago. The kitchen was food-less and the only thing working was the fridge, what was he going to do?

Vanya held him down again, taking care of him like he was a child “Relax Five, we already took care of that. We ordered two large pizzas, chicken wings, and some drinks. Allison rumored the delivery guy to give it free.”

Even if the food was unhealthy, and they basically stole said food, Five was proud of his little brothers and sisters. They had managed to take care of themselves with no problem, maybe they were more independent than he thought. Vanya took his hand and help him up, then she leads him to the dining room where they were all huddling around the small square table with only four seats.

“Hello Five-o!” Klaus saluted with a bright smile and a happy voice, Five threw a weak smile in return.

Ben stood up from his seat and made a sign for Five to take the chair "Sit over here, I was done anyway"

“Thanks" Five sat down with his legs still wiggling. He looked around the table and proceed "Sorry for falling asleep earlier, and thank you for taking care of dinner. I should have been the one doing that."

“You deserved a break old man, you’ve been driving since yesterday!” Klaus took his defense and tried to make him feel better. The flamboyant one then pointed at the box of pizza on the table and said “We saved you some food, you look like you need it.”

The elder one served himself with his stomach groaning in hunger, before he started eating Luther spoke from behind him “Try the all-dressed slice first, it’s delicious”

“No it isn’t, the pepperoni and cheese one is way better” Diego judge him and shook his head.

Before it could turn into a ridiculous argument, Five changed the subject "We might need a bigger table, maybe a circled one for a change.”

"We know, look" Allison showed him the opened page of her shiny pink notebook with a long list written with blue ink “We made a list of all the things we need to buy.”

Five read the list with the tiny fear of running out of money for all of these. Technically they had enough for everything in regards to the house, but he had to find a job as soon as possible to keep feeding six growing teenagers, saving for college, and paying their health insurance. His thoughts were interrupted with Ben's comment "You really look like a zombie, man.”

The other children all laughed and Five actually agreed, he needed some sleep.

Since their bedrooms were empty, the family had no choice but to sleep all together in the living room. They used the covers and pillows that Five had bought them prior to make themselves beds on the floor next to each other. Five spent an hour trying to light up the fireplace for heat, afterward, he sat with the kids and he tried his best to make it enjoyable by acting like it was all a fun sleepover. He sang with them, told them his best jokes, listened to their favorite horror stories, and played truth or dare until they all fell asleep.

"They look like angels when they're sleeping," he whispered to himself while watching over them.

***

In the following week, the Hargreeves filled their cute little house with everything they needed and put their own touch on it.

The kitchen was overload with foods for all tastes, utensils, plates, and a bunch of home electronics such as a new microwave, dishwasher, toaster, and oven. Five had even replaced the little square table by aa huge circled table for them, it was a big change from their previous table at the academy.

Together, they also decorated the living room with plants, curtains, lamps, and picture frames that they could fill later. They of course also chose a bunch of furniture for their living room to look aesthetic and cozy, and they then shipped it all to their house because it of course didn't fit in their minivan.

Upstairs, the girls had spent an entire day painting their room in purple, putting up Christmas lights to decorate, and choosing posters from magazines to glue them on their walls. They loved their bedroom, and they already loved being roommates.

Setting up the boys' bunk beds was a very complex task, Five had bought some tools to move the process along faster yet he wasn't very helpful in the situation, he was helpless. The boys ended up building the entire thing on their own, and decorating as they pleased, while Five changed some lightbulbs and went around cleaning every centimeter of their new house.

Five made sure that the kids had every essential that a house should have, every single room was full. He even spread some money and time to take them to the nearest mall, it turned out to be bigger and more diversified than they thought, and he let them run wild and buy themselves all the clothes, shoes, and winter coats they needed. Canada in December was too freaking cold to keep them all in shorts and skirts. 

Once that was done, it was time for a more important step. Five sat on the new table with a bunch of papers and his pen, and he called "Kids! Guys come downstairs! Kids!" and when that didn't work, he took out a green whistle from his pocket sand continently blew it as loud as he could..

They all showed up with their ears covered and walked towards the time the dinner table. Allison, Klaus, and Vanya sat down with their nails freshly painted and holding their hands up to not mess the manicure up, Diego had a new bandage around his arm to cover his accident with the kitchen knife he was playing with outside, Luther was sweaty and smelly from working out in the basement, and Ben was dressed in black from head to toes and brooding. Five threw them each a nonsensical look, and thought ' _good lord, they need to get out more'_.

"What do you want?" Ben aggressively asked, taking Five by surprise. Nobody was used to seeing Ben soo mad and melancholic. _Teenagers._.

Fiv ignored him for now "I need to talk to all of you about school."

At the mention of school, the kids looked a little more interested. They started whispering amongst themselves and smiling in excitement.

Five continued "As you might already know, the reason why I haven't registered you in school yet, it's because none of you don't have the documents they require, such as birth certificates, passports, health assurance, adopting papers, and your middle school diplomas. However, I made a few calls, and illegally created fake papers for all of you."

The kids looked at each other in silence, not really trusting Five's words yet they chose to shut up and trust him. Luther was the only pale looking one who seemed stressed out "Won't that get us in trouble?"

Five sighted "Hopefully not, they're very well-made. Just don't ask questions and play along." he explained as he passed each of them a yellow file containing all their new registration.

Klaus was the first to open his with his fists, trying to not mess the sheets with nail polish, he read the name and asked "You changed our last names?"

"Yes, I did, we are now the 'Harpers' family." He said with a self-reliant smile.

“It's ew!” Klaus commented.

Diego snarled back “Like ‘Hargreeves’ was any better.” 

“Why are we changing names?” Luther asked, trying to lower his voice to sound more mature than his brothers and making the others mock him in the progress.

"Because I'm trying to avoid unnecessary attention from the media... or from dad."

At the mention of their father, the teens quieted and looked down. Vanya tried to change it back to a happy subject again "So, when are we going to sign up? When do we start?"

"I already called the secretary and scheduled a meeting with the principal, tomorrow at 9 am, to officially register you. All we need to do is fill these papers with all your information, answer a couple of questions, and show her your documents. Then she'll give you your schedule, your books, and assign you a locker." Hopefully, you'll all be officially starting the next day, on Tuesday."

Five passed them each a blue pen and a large white sheet with a bunch of questions written on them, just simple stuff like their allergies and their birthdays. Some of them started filling them right away, checking on their new fake papers to be certain that they had the correct information.

Ben raised an eyebrow when he realized "We have different birthdates too?"

"Yes, I assigned you all fake birthdays because it was already suspicious enough that you're all in the same grade." Five answered looking at his own notes, gluing his eyes to the page because his vision wasn't very good. _I need fucking glasses._. "Allison on June 5th, Diego on July 23rd, Klaus on August 14th, Luther on October 11th, Vanya on September 21st, and Ben on November 18th."

"Oh, yay! I'm a Leo!" Klaus said in joy, and then turned to his side to hiss at Diego"Cancer fits you so well, you're so clingy and moody!"

"Shut up, respect your older brother. " Diego shot back with an arrogant voice.

"I'm the oldest one no! So suck it losers!" Allison chanted proudly from her place.

Five prevented the discussion from ging further and instead went to more important matters "Anyways, we also have a new origin story! If anyone asks, my loving birth parents decided to adopt six toddlers in 1992 because they really loved children. Unfortunately, they passed away in an abhorrent fire incident that left us homeless. We moved here because this is the place our grandparents grew up in, we had nobody else in our old town and we needed a fresh start."

The story was very mournful, almost as scandalous as their own fictional one. A little tone death, Allison asked in her girliest voice "We need school supplies."

"Tomorrow, after the meeting with the principal, we can go buy everything you need. Not for long because we need to be back early, it's a school night!" Five winked at them with a cocky smile and they all groaned at the thought of waking up early. Five waited for all of them to complete their information sheets and then signed all the boxes saying 'Legal guardian'. 

They talked about school for the entire night, Five just sat back and listen with a proud smile. _They grow up so fast._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will have a different construction. Every little sibling will have a moment alone with Five, can't wait! (I'll post it on Tuesday)


	3. School time (part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vanya, Ben, and Klaus, in the first week of school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Next chapter is the other three kids.)

**December 10, 2002**

At six o’clock in the morning, Klaus came out of his bedroom and yelled “Shotgun the bathroom!”

Ben followed him and knocked on the door loudly, waking up the rest of the children “No! Klaus, get out! we all need the bathroom!”

Allison got out of her own bedroom, already dressed and holding a bad of new makeup “I call the downstairs bathroom then!”

Vanya followed her, also dressed but looking like a lion with her messy long hair “I’ll go with you!”

“I’ll go set the tables, who else wants toast?” Luther asked getting out of his bed.

Diego, of course always defiant, disagreed “Yuck, I want cereal”

Downstairs, Five waited for the kids to solve their own bickering and get ready like big boys and girls. He woke two hours before his siblings because his anxiety was keeping him from sleeping, he was very stressed about money problems and figuring out how he was going to feed six growing teenagers. He drank four cups of coffee to keep him awake as he desperately searched thought the newspapers to find a job.

His reading was interrupted by the kids coming to the dining room at 6:20, already dressed and ready to eat breakfast “Good morning”

The only response he got was groaning and a flimsy “Hey” from Vanya.

They walked into the kitchen and each chose and prepared what they wanted to eat. Five had assured to have multiple options to match their six different appetites, easy things that could be ready in less than ten minutes.

By 6:45, all the children were done eating, their plates were in the dishwasher, and their teeth were brushed. They headed to the front door with their backpacks too put on their shoes, scarfs, and winter coats. Five passed them each a small lunchbox “This is for you, I made you each a very bulky sandwich, and added a juice box and some snacks.”

“Look at that, you’re already such a mom” Diego took his lunchbox and patted Five’s shoulder before leaving.

They all followed throwing small “Bye” and “See you later” as they walk out and headed to the bus stop with excitement.

Vanya was the last one to take her lunchbox from Five and wave goodbye, but before her brother could close the door behind her, she turned around and went back in to wrap her hands around his small torso and crush him with a hug.

“Vanya? Are you okay?” Five asked when he heard a sob, he wrapped his hands awkwardly around her shoulders, trying to comfort her as best as he could.

She was shaking marginally and burying her face in his neck “I don’t want to go.”

Five shook his head “I know that’s not true, Vanya. We used to talk about going to a real school all the time, aren’t you excited?”

She inhales and dropped some tears when she answered “I’m scared.”

“Of what?”

“What if something goes wrong?” She pulled away to clean her tears and continued crying “What if the other kids don’t like me? What if I fail a class? What if the teachers are mean? What if-”

Five put his hand on her mouth to shut her up. It took her by surprise but it didn’t hurt her, Five used to do things like that to everyone all the time when they were little “Stop, Vanya, take a deep breath and calm down.”

Vanya did as she was told and sat down on the staircase behind them. Five sat right beside her and held her warm hands in his bigger ones. He passed her a tissue from his pocket and she took it to clean her puffy red eyes.

When she stopped crying, he looked into her eyes and continued “Vanya, you’re the strongest, kindest, and most talented girl I know. I am certain that you’ll do perfectly fine. A gorgeous young woman like you will have no problem fitting in and making friends. With your intelligence and discipline, you’ll be getting A’s in every subject. and teachers will love you. This is a new start, you just have to take it one step at a time and you'll do amazingly”

Five’s rare playful tone took a small laugh out of little Vanya. She gave him a tight side hug and whispered “Thank you so much. I love you”

“I love you too V” Five kissed the top of her head and got up to open the front door again “Now run! You can’t miss the bus on the first day!”

Vanya took her lunchbox and ran out, Five watched from the doorframe and thought about what Diego said _‘Damn, I am such a good mom’_.

**December 10, 2002 (Night)**

The children’s first day of school went on perfectly. They all came back with smiles on their faces and talked or hours about their teachers, classes and classmates. They were all to a good start.

After dinner, some homework, and a little bit of free time, Five send them all to sleep at 10 pm after hearing them whine about bedtime.

“Oh sweet peace” Once all lights were down and all the kids were drooling and snorting, Five locked himself in his room and went back to business. He had spent days calling stores, leaving his CV in fast food places, and scheduling interviews to find a job. Since that didn’t do so good, he was now making another list of places where he could apply.

His free time was interrupted when he heard a loud wail coming from the boys’ bedroom. Five didn’t waste a second to get up and go check “Hello?”

He got another whimper, but it was too dark to see who it was coming from. Although, Five had heard that sound many times before, because in the last year of leaving in the academy he used to be Ben's moral support. So he knew who's crying that was “Ben? Is that you?”

“Y-Yes,” Ben replied quietly from under his covers.

Five tip-toed to Ben who was laying in the bottom bed under Klaus “What’s going on Ben?”

Ben answered with louder cries instead of words, he was too overwhelmed with emotions to form a sentence.

Five gabbed his little brother’s shoulders and whispered “Hey, let’s talk downstairs okay?”

Ben nodded weakly and followed Five to the kitchen counter. The older one served him some warm almond milk and a couple of oreos. Ben cleaned his tears away and started dipping his cookies in the milk. “Thank you.”

Five let Ben take a break and calm himself down before he asked “Why were you crying, Ben?”

Ben rolled his eyes and answered sassy “Don’t act like you don’t know.”

Five backed away “Why are you so damn rude lately?”

Ben just looked down into his glass and ignored Five as he brooded quietly, struggling to keep his eyes open from sleepiness.

“Let me guess” Five clicked his tongue and answered his own question “The nightmares came back, didn’t they?”

Ben nodded slowly, looking almost ashamed and bitting his lips “Yeah”

“Ben, it's okay. It's just in your head.” Five tried to help.

Ben shrugged “Yeah, but they look too real, and they could actually happen. I’m worried Five, what if it does become real? What if I lose control and I hurt someone?... I keep dreaming about killing one of you…”

Five felt uncomfortable all of a sudden, knowing this wasn’t just an irrational fear, it was an actual possibility. “Is that what's keeping you from sleeping? Is that why you’re all moody and irritable lately?"

Ben nodded again, looking a little more like his normal innocent self. “I have the same nightmares every night, I’m sick of it. My head hurts all the time, and my stomach is acting up again too.”

Five thought carefully about what to say or do next, he wanted nothing more but to help his brother. He got up and took a chair to reach the highest cabinet on top of the fridge, Five might be old but he was still not that taller than his 3 years old siblings. He came back to his place with three pills in his hand.

“What’s that?” Ben asked intrigued.

Five sat down and placed them in front of him “The green pill is for stomach aches, the blue pill is or headache, and the white one is for Vanya’s anxiety.”

Ben’s eyes widened in slight panic “Aren’t they specially made for Vanya?”

Five scratched his head looking for a smart way to put this “Yeah, technically, but I can get them similar ones in any drug store. If it works on you, I’ll find a way to get you your own too, don’t worry.”

Ben had long trusted his brother more than anyone in the world, so he didn’t hesitate to swallow all three pills together with the rest of him milk. “Thanks”

“You’re welcome” Five replied and kept talking while Ben finished his cookies “And stop worrying about the nightmares, Ben. I understand why you’re afraid, but you no longer have a reason to use your powers at all, so maybe it’ll eventually go away when it’s not strong enough to hurt anyone.”

“Are you sure?” Ben asked in a fragile voice full of hope, making Five’s heart grow.

“Yeah” _No, I’m not sure, but I’ll do everything to keep you safe._ Fie took out his pinky and childishly whispered “Pinky promise”

The younger one rolled his eyes but eventually laughed “Pinky promise.”

They talked a little more, and as soon as Ben finished his last Oreo, he yawned and closed his eyes, almost unable to move anymore. Five took pity on the half-sleeping boy and decided to hold him before he could completely lose his balance. The teen rested his head on the older one's shoulder, wrapped his legs around his waist skinny, and held him tight.

“Here we go” Five used all the strength he had to pick Ben up from the chair and go all the way up the stairs, thankfully Ben was his smallest brother because Five wasn't so big and strong himself. Once he got to the biggest bedroom, Five carefully laid his brother down on the bed and tucked him in. “Good night Ben.”

Five started walking out when he heard Ben’s voice talking sluggishly in his sleep “I love Five”

The elder one got to the door with the biggest grin and replied before closing the door behind him “I love you too, Ben”

Turns out the pills did help. So, Five went out of his way to find another box of anxiety pills for Ben, hoping it didn’t have side effects.

**December 11, 2002**

Five thankfully noticed right away.

He fixated his eyes on Klaus, who was wearing an enormous black seater even if the fireplace was on and he heating was working perfectly. Five decided to leave it alone and leave the kid to eat his breakfast in peace, but it only took a couple of minutes before Luther ran down the stairs and ruined the mood “Klaus, give me my hoddie back."

Klaus shook his head “You have other sweaters, Luther move on”

“but that’s mine!” Luther lost his patience like he often did with Klaus, and he grabbed the hood of the sweater and pulled it back to scare Klaus.

The curly-headed one shirked loudly as if it was a life or death situation. Five spaced jumped between the two and slightly pushed Luther away “STOP! What the hell is wrong with you two?”

“He took my sweater!” Luther whined, “I needed back, the other one has a stain.”

“Right” Five snickers at the memory of his clumsiest brother dropping an entire blueberry smoothie on himself the prior night. “Klaus, can you please give the hoodie back to Luther, please?”

Klaus growled and took out the piece of clothing to throw it at Klaus. Five didn’t give the situation more thought until Ben, sitting in front of them, pointed at Klaus, and asked: “is that my shirt?”

Klaus' mouth opened and closed but no words came out, before he could say anything Diego ran downstairs next and stopped beside Klaus. He was barefoot and looking frustrated, he gave Klaus a small kick on the leg “Dude, give me my shoes back!”

“You’re not a donkey, Diego, stop kicking and go eat your breakfast.” Five flat-lined and signaled Klaus to follow him “Come here, let's talk.”

Klaus dragged himself and followed Five to the small, empty solarium. Five closed the door and looked at Klaus closely “Klaus, why aren’t you wearing your own clothes?” 

Klaus looked down at Diego’s shoes and his normal smile faded away “I don’t like my clothes anymore.”

“You’re shitting me right?” Five came off a little aggressive, clearly looking irritated “You bought 300$ worth of clothing and now you don’t like them anymore?”

A small tear ran down Klaus’ face “No, I do love my clothes… but I can’t wear them anymore.”

Five’s frown was self-explanatory, he seemed discouraged “What?”

“I can’t wear them to school.” Klaus said as if it was obvious, he sounded extremely upset “I’m not supposed to dress like that.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“They say my clothes are too girly and flashy. They called me clown, and sissy, and queer, and some other stuff… and I just want them to stop.” Klaus’ voice broke at the last sentence, he was now crying non-stop.

Five didn’t really know how to react. His other siblings and he had often mocked Klaus for his exorbitant choice of clothing, but the boy had never mind because help was proud of his style. What could be bad enough to make Klaus change himself after only a day?

Klaus continued when Five shut up, he wasn’t used to getting so much attention from him “Yesterday I felt so stupid. Everyone was dressed the same, and they all looked at me and laughed, I felt like an alien.”

Five tried to look into Klaus’ eyes, but the younger one was trying his best to hide his red face. “Listen, Klaus, stop giving a shit. You’re your own person, with your own likings, and you can dress however you want, nobody has any say on it but yourself. Don’t listen to those assholes, do whatever you want and ignore those jealous little dumbasses. Use all the courage and originality in you, and go show the world what you got!”

Klaus’ mouth was open, he was surprised to hear such a happy encouragement message from his normally negative, and crude brother. “But… they’ll hate me.”

“Ignore them, who cares about them? Who are they to tell you who to be?” Five’s voice was raising, trying to convince his brother about how special he was “Be yourself, be loud, sing all day and make some weird jokes like you always do. If nobody likes you for yourself, you don’t need them, but I’m certain that you’ll find people who accept you just the way you are.”

Klaus’s eyes widen in cheerfulness “You’re right. Fuck them”

Five nodded and agreed “Yes, fuck them. Now, go to your room and chose your best clothes. Go show that school what they’ve been missing.”

Klaus took one last deep breath before running upstairs with a big smile to do exactly what Five said. He was right, Klaus had very quality to deal with attention and basic teenage rudeness. Who needs them? Fuck them.

While his brother was upstairs, Five came back to the kitchen and approached his other siblings to tell them to keep an eye on Klaus. He was somewhat worried about him, and if anyone hurt Klaus he would lose his shit.

_Nobody was going to hurt his little brothers and sisters, ever._  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter but I really hope you like it. Please, please, please keep reading! I'm keeping the best for the end

**Author's Note:**

> I promise it gets better, please tell me if you want me to continue. Love!


End file.
